The Love Knot Block

Leah Douglas from thebuggspot.blogspot.com here. St. Valentine’s Day is soon arriving and I’ve whipped out a little table runner in anticipation of the Saint’s Day celebrating the man who performed marriage ceremonies for Roman soldiers who had been denied the luxury by the Emperor Claudius II. There’s your history lesson for the day.

And here are some roses from my hubby. He’s so romantic.

Let’s get started!

1 jelly roll (Posy)
1 jelly roll will make 16 blocks (approx. 2 1/2 strips per block) but you probably don’t want to use
any strips that are similar in color to your background fabric, so more like 12 blocks totalwhite background (cluck daisy white)
1 1/2 strips (at 2 1/2″ wide) per block

These are instructions for making ONE love knot block. I chose to make three total and turn them into a table runner, because that’s what I happened to need at the time. You should be able to make 12 blocks easily out of one jelly roll and turn them into a 3 x 4 block quilt if you would like. Each block finishes at 11″ square.

Cutting the Love Knot Block:

Start by choosing 5 strips from your jelly roll. Trim them from 2 1/2″ wide down to 1 1/2″ wide. If you have a honey bun instead of a jelly roll, that will be perfect without any trimming.

Set aside one of the five strips to be used for the middle square of the block. You have four strips remaining. Cut each of the four strips remaining in half. You will only use half of each strip, so save the rest for a different block later. Fold each of the four strips in half.

Pick one strip and cut as follows:

Cut a rectangle measuring 1 1/2″ x 3 1/2″. You should have two total.

Unfold the strip. Cut one rectangle 4 1/2″ wide, another 5 1/2″ wide and one 1 1/2″ square. You will

have a smidge leftover fabric to do with as you please.

Do the same with the three other strips (not that one you set aside earlier for the center square

though, that’s next).

Now take the strip you chose to use for the center square. Fold it in half twice. Cut 4 rectangles measuring 1 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ and 8 squares 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″. You will have some leftovers to set aside for whatever you’d like.

Start by sewing these pieces together and then iron (ironing will be assumed from now on):

Then add the 3 1/2″ baby pink to the left side:

Set that section aside and sew this one:

Add the 2 1/2″ white rectangle to the right side:

Sew the 5 1/2″ purple to a white square:

Sew these three pieces together, careful to match your seams:

Then add the long purple with white square to the right side:

Woohoo! This is one quarter of your block.

Rotate your finished quarter-of-the-block COUNTERCLOCKWISE and lay out the pieces for the next quarter-of-the-block like so:

Sew it together the same way you did above. It should go something like this:

Once again, rotate things counterclockwise and begin the third quarter-of-the-block:

And the last quarter-of-the-block:

See that extra little white square I threw in the middle of the above picture? That is what pulls everything together here. Sew that little guy onto one of your quarter-blocks leaving a 1/4″ unsewn like this:

It should look like this below, ready to be sewn to the second quarter-of-the-block: (match the seams!)

Sew those two together, rotate counterclockwise, and sew the third quarter-of-the-block on:

Now the tricky part. Adding that last bit.

You can start from that middle white square or from the outer edge of your blocks, whichever you choose. Either way should be fine if you are being careful to line up all your seams along the way. However, look at the picture below and notice that the last little 1/4″ near the center white square is not sewn.

That’s so you can sew up the other side and turn out a beautiful little 11 1/2″ block like this!

You’re done!

Here’s a few snapshots of how I finished my 3 blocks into a table runner.

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